comicbookGRRRLDo not offend the chair leg of truth; it is wise and terrible.

Introduced as the laureate of graphic literature, the much celebrated Chris Ware booked a sell out event at a major literary festival, speaking about our fictional bubble lives, his superheroic beginnings, and his hopes and fears for the medium.

At the Edinburgh International Book Festival, the largest festival of its kind in the world, this year saw the unveiling of a brand new programme dedicated to comics and graphic novels: Stripped. The first night, sold out far in advance, heralded the arrival of Chris Ware who confessed himself surprised and delighted to be at such an event.

The launch day of The Bunker, a new comic from Joshua Hale Fialkov and Joe Infurnari is finally here! Make sure you don’t miss out, and while we’re all excited over this new epic comic, lets sit down and have a chat with Fialkov himself.

There has been a huge amount of secrecy around The Bunker– what can you tell us about the story itself? What was your inspiration behind the (fantastic!) premise? And do you have it all mapped out on a giant wall?!

JHF: It’s a story about a group of friends who discover that their lives as they saw them are essentially over. If they don’t change who they are, there will be dire consequences. Like, apocalyptical consequences. And we get to see the story from both ends, so to speak. It’s hard to talk about without spoiling things, though…

What is The Bunker? A brand new comic from the writer of I, Vampire,The Ultimates, Tumor and last week’s Hunger that is guaranteed to get your mind racing. The Bunker will be available through ComiXology and the main website.

I mentioned before, cheekily, that Ballistic was perhaps the new Saga. You can put The Bunker up there with them, I guarantee it.

Tom Strong is a comic for those who love adventure stories. Or sci-fi. Or pulp characters. Or ace women heroes. Or space sagas. Or future tales. Or family stories. Heck, Tom Strong is for everyone!

Now as part of Vertigo’s stunningly impressive 2013 line-up, tomorrow sees the publication of #1 of a brand new Tom Strong miniseries: Tom Strong and the Planet of Peril.

I caught up with writer Peter Hogan to chat about his new series, the move from America’s Best Comics to Vertigo, and just why Tom Strong is so appealing. Many thanks to Peter for his time, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that Tom Strong and the Teens From Tomorrow is up next!

Over the course of three weeks I published my series of articles on the history of Zenith, a strip by Grant Morrison and Steve Yeowell at the centre of an argument over ownership, at The Beat. The reaction to this series was truly phenomenal, spanning as it does 21 years of UK comics history and copyright kerfuffles.

It was a great experience to turn my hand to investigative journalism for this task - I initially planned to write one article giving a brief summary of the situation, but I turned up such a wealth of information that I knew I wanted to share it all in detail.

With the new collection due out later this year, as a pre-order direct sale only, and with the ownership issues still unresolved, I expect we'll see more development on Zenith in the future! (Part 2 includes commentary from Brendan McCarthy.)

It’s not often that a superhero comic gives me chills, particularly when we’re talking villains, but then it’s not often you that see a superhero comic from someone like Kate Brown.

Confession: Kate Brown is one of my favourite comic creators. In my other life as a bookseller the most common comics related question I get is, “what graphic novel should I read if I’ve never read comics before?”, and my answer is always this: “Fish + Chocolate by Kate Brown”. (and Karrie Fransman’s The House that Groaned and Hannah Berry’s Adamtine – my unholy trinity now joined by Mary Talbot!)

Brown’s art and storytelling skills are phenomenal, and it doesn’t hurt that in person she is cooler than a whole bag of cucumbers.